I-Team: Priest Removed From Ministry Due To Sex Abuse Allegations Now Works At PHL
By Ben Simmoneau
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The CBS 3 I-Team has learned that a Catholic priest who was removed from the ministry over sex abuse allegations now holds a sensitive security post at Philadelphia International Airport.
The security checkpoint between Terminals D and E is a busy place where thousands of people – including lots of kids – pass through every day. But you might not believe who the I-Team observed working as a TSA supervisor at that checkpoint this week: Thomas Harkins.
Until 2002, Harkins was a Catholic priest working at churches across South Jersey. But the Diocese of Camden removed him from ministry because it found he sexually abused two young girls. Now, in a new lawsuit, a third woman is claiming she also is one of Harkins' victims.
The I-Team asked Harkins about the suit as he was leaving his shift at the airport.
"I have nothing to say," was Harkins' reply.
The new lawsuit, filed in federal court against the Camden Diocese says quite a bit. It accuses Harkins of sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl 10 to 15 times in 1980 and 1981. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the alleged victim, claims the abuse occurred while Harkins was a priest at Saint Anthony of Padua parish in Hammonton, NJ, with one assault even occurring in Harkins' bedroom at the rectory.
The I-Team asked Harkins if the traveling public should be worried.
"No, they shouldn't be," he said.
"The public should not be worried with you in a position like this despite your past?" reporter Ben Simmoneau asked.
"I have nothing to say," Harkins repeated.
He then used his TSA badge to walk into a restricted area where our cameras could not follow.
"They should know who they're hiring," said Karen Polesir, a Philadelphia spokeswoman with the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). She believes Harkins' TSA job is inappropriate.
"As the public, we are screened to our underwear getting on a plane, and yet they hire a man like that."
A TSA official tells the I-Team Harkins' title is "Transportation Security Manager, Baggage," meaning he deals mostly with luggage, not passengers.
"Sure, that's his title," Polesir said. "That doesn't mean that's where he stays, that doesn't mean he doesn't fill other roles when necessary."
The TSA says all its employees go through a criminal background check before they're hired, but because these cases are so old, criminal charges were not filed. A spokesman says the Camden Diocese settled the first two lawsuits with Harkins' accusers--it has not seen this suit just yet.
